A HISTORIC natural island off the coast of Busaiteen has been finally registered as a national heritage site.
The Muharraq Municipal Council and Parliament have been campaigning to protect Al Sayah Island from being swallowed by reclamation work on a new bridge linking Muharraq and Manama.
Bahrain Authority for Culture and Antiquities (Baca) president Shaikha Mai bint Mohammed Al Khalifa has declared the site as a national heritage site in the Official Gazette and has informed the Survey and Land Registration Bureau to identify it on map references.
“The natural island with a six-metre diameter circular opening in the middle includes a natural water spring,” said the decision by Shaikha Mai in the Gazette’s latest edition. “It has the remains of what could be a fort or a defence tower with parts of walls in existence.”
Area councillor Waheed Al Mannai told the GDN that efforts to get the island declared as a national heritage site have paid off after around a two-year campaign.
“Finally the island is officially protected just months after we managed to reroute the new bridge away from it by 34m,” he added. “We have also managed to have two water openings that are 21m and 31m wide to allow water flow circulation in the area.
“But, the biggest joy has been brought to us by Shaikha Mai after the island got officially declared – the efforts of area MP Hamad Al Kooheji and I have not gone in vain.”
He suggested that the island could have a natural park, restaurants and cafés, and be used as a possible venue for outdoor events. “As it’s just 50m away from the reclaimed coast of Busaiteen it would be nice to have a wooden jetty too,” he added.
Works, Municipalities Affairs and Urban Planning Minister Essam Khalaf told the Muharraq Municipal Council in writing last December that Al Sayah Island, famous for its natural water spring, would be registered after receiving all relevant approvals.
In September last year, the GDN quoted the ministry as saying that reclamation work on the new BD94 million bridge linking Muharraq and Manama, which started in January last year, had been rerouted to avoid the site.
The 550m bridge is an extension of the 7.8km-long North Muharraq Highway project which also includes the 4.2km-long Muharraq ring road. Financing for the entire project, which will connect north Busaiteen and Bahrain Bay, is being covered by the Saudi Fund for Development.
The GDN reported in January last year that municipal councillors and residents of Muharraq had been campaigning to protect the island and were seeking the Cabinet’s intervention to stop reclamation work carried out to create new plots of land for future projects.
The council wanted the island to be declared a protected reservation before it was lost to planned urbanisation.
The island has a rich history and folklore which includes tales that the Prophet Mohammed once passed through Al Sayah. A hungry genie was also rumoured to have once inhabited the island.
Named Bu Gedo, it supposedly demanded picnickers leave food for it, in the same manner that nowadays they leave it for Bahrain’s fat birds. However, a number of scientific studies conducted by researchers from Bahrain University concluded that the sounds attributed to Bu Gedo over hundreds of years were the natural ecological release of air during low and high tides.
mohammed@gdn.com.bh
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